One Family
by Artz001
Summary: After an accident at the central park zoo, a young teen is transformed into a mutant being with astonishing abilities. Four years later, she is found by the turtles on a midnight run and they offer her a home for the first time in years. What really happened that night four years ago? And what feelings could bloom between a scared girl and a hot-head? RaphaelXOC Rated M to be safe
1. Chapter 1

A cool breeze settled over the city of New York. The sun was just starting to set; silhouettes of the buildings standing out bold against the orange and yellow sky. It was a beautiful sight to the fourteen-year-old. She let the breeze blow through her shoulder-length brown hair as she watched over the central park zoo. Her parents were both zookeepers; closing the zoo often took a little while. But every day after school, she would finish her homework at the library, and rush to the zoo to meet up with her parents. It was Friday; pizza night.

The teen directed her gaze into the exhibit she was leaning on, watching the red pandas chewing on bamboo. Admittedly her favorite animals, the girl could remember the day that each and every one of them was born; she had been present for most all of the births. Her favorite, by far, was the most recent addition; a six-month old male with unusually bold markings under his eyes. The raccoon-like-creature and the teen had formed a close bond almost instantaneously. Even shortly after his birth, the red panda seemed to have a calm air about him. He rarely made noise and rarely got into fights like the other cubs. This was the reason that the girl was allowed to choose the baby's name; her mother had thought it appropriate as she was also a quite child who didn't go looking for trouble. The teen had chosen Heiwa, the japanese word for peace. Granted, red pandas were from the Himalayas, but nobody seemed to mind.

The teen smiled as soon as she spotted Heiwa trotting her way. He had grown quite a bit in the six months of his life, but was still a cub. He wouldn't be an adult for at least another six months. The teen looked around briefly before reaching her hand as far into the exhibit as she could. Heiwa reared up on his hind legs to meet her half way, pushing his head into the palm of her hand, begging for pets.

"Paniga?"

The teen whipped her hand away so quickly it caused the red panda cub to jump a bit, suddenly noticing how dark it was. Bright blue eyes settled on the middle-aged woman before her. The woman laughed. "I'm sorry Paniga. I didn't mean to startle you."

Pan smiled and brushed her hair from her face. "It's okay."

"So are we ready for pizza night?" a new voice reached her ears. Panturned to see her father coming toward them, dawned in a long brown trench coat Pan used to play in as a little girl. Both of her parents wore the typical uniform; brown shorts and matching button-up shirts with high top hiking boots. Her mother's reddish curls framed her face while her messy-haired father smiled under his glasses; bright blue eyes to match Pan's.

"I'm starving!" Pan exclaimed. Turning back to see Heiwa munching on a bamboo stick of his own, she smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow, little guy!"

As if he could understand, Heiwa's ears perked up and tale twitched a bit. Pan smiled before walking between her parents. A shiver crawled it's way up her spine. Even though it was the tale end of summer, the nights were slowly starting to get colder. Pan jumped a bit when she felt slightly heavy fabric draped over her shoulders. She smiled up at her dad as he gently wrapped his daughter in the coat.

"Thanks dad," the teen snuggled into the warmth, inhaling her father's scent. It was soothing to her.

"Hunny, aren't we the only ones left here?"

Pan's eyes snapped up. The office windows were lit as they passed.

"Yes, we were."

Pan began to worry with the tone her father used; not many things freaked him out or caused him to worry.

"Maybe we left the light on?"

"No, I shut it off when we left to collect Pan."

A shadowed figure suddenly passed the window, causing Pan and her mother to gasp in surprise. The teen felt her father's hand grip her shoulder tightly.

"It looks like they are headed toward the infermary; we can't let them harm any of the animals."

"I'll phone the police," Pan's mother pulled her phone out and began to dial. Before she could press the call button, a pink blast came from no where, vaporizing the phone. The family jumped back in surprise as three men came toward them. Pan was curious to see each looked identical' black, slicked back hair, caucasian, and each sporting a black business suit. Though the guns they were holding looked like nothing Pan had ever seen. The best she could describe... It looked alien; a cross between a machine gun and a saw. She noticed what seemed to be a charge indicator on the sides; all three glowing as pink as the blast shot toward her mother.

"Pan, run!" before she had time to mention these facts, her father pushed her behind him. Fear quickly took over Pan as she sprinted as far away from the men as possible.

"Keep running!" she heard her mother yell. "Don't look back! Just keep running!"

Pan was panicking. The only thing she could think of was the red panda exhibit. Quickly she reached her destination and hopped over the fence; her father's coat catching and pulled off of her. The red pandas were no where to be seen; she assumed they had entered the building for the night. All except one. Heiwa bounded over to her the instant Pan landed on the dirt. He quickly climbed up her pant leg and into her arms.

"Heiwa, what are you doing out here?!" Pan whispered. "There are bad people here! They're trying to hurt you!"

Heiwa nuzzled under Pan's chin, chirping quietly. Pan was taken aback; it wasn't normal for him to make noise. She held the cub close and quickly hid in a large log in the exhibit. She listened as she heard footsteps; all synchronizing together like marching machines.

"Krang will destroy that which is known as zoo per the request of Krang."

Definatly robotic. Something smashed into the exhibit, causing Heiwa to struggle against Pan's grip, desperate to try to escape it. The glass tube shattered, spilling a greenish ooze from within. It glowed an unatrual glow, and almost seemed to glitter in the moonlight. Pan gasped as Heiwa won the wrestling match and bolted from the log.

"There is one which is known as an animal Krang wishes to use as an experiment to benefit Krang."

Pan heard a dull humming sound; their weapon's ready to fire.

"NO!" Pan quickly bolted from under the log without thinking and threw herself between Heiwa and the blast, loosing a sneaker in the process. Her foot quickly made contact with the green ooze as the shot was fired.

The next thing Pan knew, a sharp burning feeling had quickly traveled up her leg. She screamed as the blast missed and hit the ooze also. Pan collapsed to the ground hugging herself tightly; it felt as if her organs and bones were re-arranging. A splitting pain in her head caused her to scream out louder. It felt as though her brain was splitting apart. And when the pain shot down her spine in a splitting moment, everything went black as she collapsed to the ground, rolling out of the ooze in her daze.

Pan could feel something warm and wet on her face. She struggled to open her eyes. Her head ached and she felt weak all over her body. Sitting up a bit she looked down to find Heiwa chirping and licking trying to lick her face.

"Heiwa?" suddenly remembering where she was, Pan instinctively wrapped her arms around the cub and held him close to her body. He nuzzled into her happily as his churrs got louder. Pan looked around. The zoo was no worse for wear; a few blast spots here and there, a couple of small damages to the fences. The teen stood up, cub still in hand and walked slowly toward the fence. As the cub clung to her now tattered shirt, Pan reached up to climb the fence, but froze when she saw her hands.

They had turned black; her arms as well. She looked and noticed it stopped at her shoulder. And her shoulder was a reddish orange. Gasping, she looked at her feet. They were black as well. Heiwa had jumped down when she lifted up her shirt. She found her stomach was black, but her sides were the same reddish orange... the color of a red panda.

Freaking out, she tried to brush whatever it was off of her arms but instead came into contact with a soft, velvet-like feeling. She could feel the super short fur being brushed by her other hand. This was real. She quickly grabbed Heiwa and jumped the fence, surprised when something pulled her back. She turned around and nearly screamed when she saw a large fluffy tail caught on the fence. It was orange and ringed with cream-colored rings; the last two rings and the tip turning black. She reached for it, surprising herself when she felt it move closer. She grabbed it and tugged a bit, causing a slight twinge to shoot up her spine. It was her tail.

Screaming she ran to a glass exhibit used to house the polar bears and gasped at her reflection. Her human ears were gone; replaced with the semi-pointed ears of a red panda. Her face was reddish-orange that quickly turned to white cheeks. Her nose was gone; replaced with a small black animal nose. Under her eyes stretching over her cheeks were two streaks of dark brown color; Heiwa's own colors.

Her eyes were still blue, but she was shocked at what she saw. She turned to the cub in her arms.

"Please tell me this didn't happen."

Heiwa wriggled out of her grip and ran back toward his habitat. Pan gasped when he dragged a tattered piece of cloth toward her.

It was her father's jacket. The sleeves had been torn off, and there was a split from the center of the back down, splitting the coat. Pan teared up and quickly flung the coat around her shoulders. Her new-found tail fit nearly perfectly in the cut slot as she raced toward the entrance.

She halted in her tracks when she saw police lights. Pan ducked behind a building, Heiwa quickly following her. She scopped the cub up into her arms and listened in, surprised to find her hearing was much better.

"It's a shame what happened here," a gruff man's voice spoke up.

"Two dead. Have you id'ed the victims?" police-woman 2 spoke up.

"Nathan and Maria Jones," the first voice said. "blasted with something. Not sure how they're still in one piece."

Pan gasped as tears ran down her face at the mention of her parent's names. They were dead. Gone. She was alone.

Pan felt Heiwa's tongue licking her cheeks, trying to take her tears away. Well, not completely alone.

"And have you seen some of the freaks running around this city?" a new gentleman's voice presented itself.

"They should all be taken in for research."

Pan had heard enough. Spotting a man hole cover, she quickly pried it open and, with Heiwa in her arms, slowly descended into the swear depths below.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: So sorry for being late to update the story. I've been SWAMPED with work and life in general. Hopefully it will have been worth the wait! Here's chapter two! Enjoy!

All was quiet under the city of New York. That is, until four 21-year-old-brothers entered through and dropped down on their way home from patrol. Laughter echoed throughout the sewers as the turtles bragged about their victory.

"Did you see how fast those purple punks ran?" Michelangelo laughed. "You should have seen the look on their faces!"

"We all did Mikey, we were there." Donatello sighed. "And for the record, I took out way more than you did."

"But I took out the most," Raphael smirked. "Even more than Fearless over here!"

"It doesn't matter," said leader sighed. "What matters is we made it home safely."

The brothers continued to chat and debate as they entered close to their home. As they reached the entrance, Leo saw something wiz by and into their home. Halting in his tracks, he quickly drew his katana, causing his brothers to hush and draw their own weapons.

"Dude, what is it?" Mikey whispered.

"I saw something rush into our home," Leo said in a hushed, serious tone. "It could be nothing, but just in case..."

The brothers slowly entered their home, cautiously looking around for anything out of the ordinary. Leo caught a glimpse of a note taped to the fridge; Sensei was on a training session with April. They didn't stray too far from one another as they searched around the kitchen. Something jumped up onto the table, causing Leo to swing his sword. Missing the blur by inches, all brothers were shocked at what they found. It looked like an oddly colored raccoon; orange with black legs and arms. It's tail ringed with cream colored rings and black at the tip. It had a white muzzle and brown tear-track-like markings down it's cheeks and it's ears were rounded.

"Um, Donnie?" Leo said as he hesitated. "What is that thing?"

"I don't believe it!" Donatello said. "It's a red panda! A fully grown red panda!"

"Donnie, that's not a bear, dude."

Donnie glared briefly at his younger brother. "A red panda is a marsupial. It lives in tree tops in Asia."

"So, what's one doing here?" Leo said.

The red panda hissed, baring sharp pointy teeth. Mikey yelled and hid behind Raph as the creature leapt over the brothers and toward the counter, where the last slice of pizza from was sitting. It quickly snatched the last piece and bolted toward the sewers.

"Oh no you don't!" Mikey lost all fear and took off after the creature.

"Mikey, wait!" Leo yelled before bolting after his brother. Raph cast Donnie a glance before the purple banded brother sighed.

"We better go after them..."

Mikey was hot on the heels of the red panda as it ran through the sewers, with Leo not far behind. Raph and Donnie finally caught up with the leader as they went down the twists and turns of the sewers.

"Mikey, let it go!" Raph yelled in annoyance.

"No way dude! It took my pizza!"

Leo groaned. "We'll send for a new one!"

"But it's chicken with marshmallow and peppers!"

Raph felt his stomach turn. He had no idea how his brother could eat these nasty pizzas.

After what seemed like ages, the red panda finally stopped and turned before a tunnel. Mikey screeched to a halt as his brother came beside him.

"Here kitty, kitty!"

"Mikey, it's not a cat."

"Shut up Donnie!" Raph stepped a bit closer and examined the creature. Something strange caught his eye; a rope around it's neck.

"Hey guys, I think he's a pet."

"You wanna run that by me again?" Donatello said exasperated.

"Look at his makeshift collar."

Leo glanced and took a step forward. Dropping the pizza, the red panda hissed violently, causing Leo to jump back.

"He doesn't seem friendly."

Raph inched a bit closer as Leo put a hand on his shoulder. "Raph," he said in a warning tone. Raph shook off his brother and inched even closer. It was no secret that Raphael had a way with animals; they had used pidgins on countless missions thanks to the hot head's aid. The red panda hissed as Raph slowly reached his hand toward him. The panda stopped when Raph went no further, and sniffed the air a bit.

"That's it," Raph said quietly. "I went my half. You go yours."

The red panda seemed to hesitate before creeping a bit closer. He eyed the red banded turtle a bit before sniffing his hand. His black nose nearly touched Raph's fingers. The turtle saw the debate in the animal's eyes; to trust, or not to trust. After another minute, The panda took the last step and pushed Raph's hand with his head. Raph smiled and gently pet the panda, earning soft churrs as the creature's eyes closed in delight.

"Dude," Mikey muttered. "How'd you do that?"

Raph shrugged slightly. "Not sure. He just seemed scared."

Raph stopped petting the animal for a moment and looked at him. The red panda glanced up at him and whimpered a bit.

"Sorry buddy," Raph smiled and went to pet him again. The red panda backed away a bit, causing Raph to stiffen. Then it bonked it's snout against the hot head's hand and back up, glancing down the tunnel.

"... I think he wants us to follow him," Mikey said stepping forward. The instant Mikey took a step, the panda hissed again, causing the turtle to yelp and jump back. The animal then rubbed his nose against Raph's hand and then took a few steps toward the tunnel, glancing at over it's shoulder.

"Correction," Donatello said. "He just want's Raph to follow him."

Raph rose to his feet and glanced at his brothers. Donatello and Michelangelo shrugged at the red banded brother. Leo nodded slowly.

"Stay on your toes," was the only warning given.

Raph looked at the animal. "Okay buddy, what's going on?"

The red panda walked down the tunnel, grabbing the slice of pizza as he went by (thus earning a groan from Mikey). Raph followed, his sai drawn and twirling in his hands. After another minute, Raph reached the end of the tunnel and reached a small cavern. Moonlight shown through the top grate as he took in the sights. There was a back pack thrown in the corner and what appeared to be a wooden music box beside it. Buckets of random sizes were placed around the opening, catching drops of water that leaked through. The red panda whimpered again, drawing Raph's green orbs toward the back wall. A pile of old blankets sat there with a figure curled on top of them. Raph got into a defensive stance before lowering his weapons. The person wasn't moving. Sensing no danger, the red banded turtle slipped his weapons into his belt and slowly approached.

The red panda dropped the piece of pizza beside the bed and nuzzled the figure. Raph hesitated before coming closer. The red panda looked up at him and whimpered again, nuzzling what Raph saw to be a long mess of reddish-black hair. He hesitated before placing a hand on the sleeping figure and turning it toward him.

Raphael gasped when he saw the red panda mutant, but not because she was mutated. Because she was beautiful. Her markings matched the animal's, and he even noticed a long bushy tail. She was wrapped in what appeared to be an old trench coat, sleeves torn off and buttoned around her. While it did cover her, he could tell that was all she was wearing. Raph glanced at the red panda, a confused look on his face. The animal responded by touching it's nose to her cheek. Hesitating, Raphael gently stroked the girl's face, finding soft, velvet-like fur covering her. But something wasn't right.

"She's warm," Raph said to the red panda. "That's why you stole the pizza. And why you brought me here."

the panda whimpered and nuzzled Raph's hand again. Raph sighed.

"She's very sick," he said. "I have to take her back to our home. My brother can help her."

Quickly, Raph jumped up from the ground and grabbed the back pack and box. Carefully, he picked up the music box and examined it. The top was carved with beautiful roses and a name.

"Paniga," he read carefully. He carefully tucked the box into his belt before returning to her side. Casting one more glance toward the red panda, he carefully lifted the young woman into his arms, positioning her so her head wouldn't scrape against the tunnel wall. The red panda picked up the slice of pizza in his mouth again and trotted toward the tunnel. _"Smart animal," _Raph mused as he followed her, backpack hanging from his elbow.

The brothers waited patiently for Raph to return, Though some more patient than others.

"I'm so **bored**," Mikey whined as he did another hand stand.

"I'm concerned," Leo said. "What could be down there? And why Raph?"

"Maybe because Raph didn't swing his sword at him," Donnie grinned, earning a glare from Leo.

"It was a home invasion!"

"Can it, will you?"

Three heads snapped up as the red panda came back into view. When the turtles saw Raph, the gasped at the sight.

"Who is that?" Leo asked.

"According to a music box, her name is Paniga," Raph sneered. "She's sick. Real bad. The little guy was trying to bring her food."

Guilt seemed to eat at Mikey as he glanced at the animal. "Dude, she can have it. She needs it more."

"No she doesn't!" Donatello piped up coming closer. The panda hissed a bit but let Donnie pass. Carefully feeling her forehead, Donnie began examining her. "She needs medical attention. We have to take her back to the lair."

"What about Sensei?" Leo said.

"I'll deal with him when he gets home," Raph growled quietly. "Can we go now?"

"One more question," Mikey piped up.

Raph sighed, and said through bared teeth, "Yes, Mikey?"

"What about him?"

Raph glanced at the red panda, who was all but pressed agains the side of Raph's leg.

"We take him with us."

"Raph, now you're being-"

"I don't care Leo," Raph snapped quietly. "He won't leave her, and I don't feel like arguing with anyone right now. We are taking her home where Donnie can try to patch her up."

Leo swallowed a bit before sighing. With a nod, the turtles turned and started the run home. Raph glanced at the red panda before back to the mutant in his arms. Holding her close to his chest he took off at a run after his brothers. The red panda bounded after them, carrying the pizza slice the whole way down the tunnel.


End file.
